questions about romney, what happened, the tax return thing will be more intense. we ll see a totally different campaign if gingrich wins here. thanks, guys. keep it here throughout the day for the south carolina primary news. watch tonight for all of the results right here on msnbc. after south carolina comes florida. that first primary in what can truly be considered a swing state. in fact, the early voting is actually under way in all counties in florida today, in addition to more than 100,000 absentee ballots the state ha has said to already received. msnbc political embed jamie noef agrod is there in tampa. good saturday morning to you, jamie. the floridians seem anxious there in florida to have their say. that s been the sense we ve been getting. we look at the number of ballots being cast already. do you see it that way as well? i m sorry, alex. could you repeat the top of that question? just the fact we ve already
got 100,000 absentee ballots and floridians are starting to vote effectively today. i mean, the primary isn t technically until the 31st. do floridians want to get going? are they eager? yeah. the officials i speak to, that s exactly what they say is happening. early voting was happening all of last week in five counties, and now early voting is happening in all of florida s counties, 62 more opened today. yes, we have until now, we have about 10,000 early votes cast and more than 170,000 absentee ballots cast. that s a huge number, alex, if you consider that only 122,000 people voted in iowa. yeah. what s behind the early rush, jamie? why do they get out there so quickly? well, absentee voting has always been a big thing in florida. you have a population that has dual residences. you also have a number of people who travel a lot for work. you have big hospitality
south carolina, peter alexander live in columbia. what are you seeing there this morning? reporter: alex, history is on the side of the south carolinian voter. not since 1976 have they picked someone other than the gop nominee during the primaries. newt gingrich s camp is hoping with the momentum he has here he again will be that person going forward. you know, what s changing right now is the fact that the weather is starting to shower on us. it shouldn t have a big impact on voting in this state that began at fw 7:00 this morning and will wrap up about 7:00 as well. by 7:30, we may start to get a better sense of exactly how things are looking here in the state. but the closeness of this race will daikt just how long of a night this is. the weather here, though, behind us with these rain squalls i think is sort of a good metaphor for the political tempest that mitt romney s campaign has faced over the course of the last week, wavering in terms of his answers of when he would release
industry here. so that s part of it. and the big question here is who it will benefit. the officials i speak to say it looks like so far at least this will benefit mitt romney because he s been ahead in the polls until now. he s been ahead in florida polls all the way. and so the thought is that he can take advantage of that momentum, alex. jamie, i m presuming it s nice weather out there because you were closing your blinds. here it s sunny and very dark outside. enjoy the weather for me. sorry to hear it. mitt romney and ron paul? an unlikely alliance. why a moment at thursday s debate is raising questions. then in office politics, a lot of fun on the set of mad money with jim cramer. watch us play a mad game of whac-a-mole. i got him there.
jenny sanford the ex-wife of the governor of sanford when he was overseas cheating on her and said he was hiking the mountains. i encourage people to look at the personal side. if you overcome somebody s moral failings or infidelities you have to look where they stand and how much their rhetoric matches their reality. in my mind gingrich falls short on both fronts so he wouldn t get my vote. i m joined by rick tyler. he is a former spokesman for newt gingrich. good morning to you. good morning, alex. you just heard jenny sanford a woman who experienced marriage infidelity and questions gingrich s character. anything gingrich has done in his past to pose a problem for women voters? do you understand why it might be a problem? we actually have a recent poll that shows mitt romney with women voters, i don t see any